NA LCS: My Experience

July 8, 2018

One of the first things I learned about my boyfriend is he loved playing League of Legends and his favorite team is C9 also known as Cloud 9.

My boyfriend has been playing the online game for 5 years now. Last summer he started teaching my friend and I how to play. I haven’t really played since then, but I plan to get back into it once my other hobbies calm down.

When we first starting dating we planned to attend a league event. We’ve been dating for 2 years now and we bought our tickets to NA LCS this past May for games that would take place on June 30 in Los Angeles, California.

Trip to LA

Riot Company

We planned to wake up and get ready at 7:30am and leave our apartment by 8am and be on the road by then. We stopped to get breakfast at Carls Jr. before getting on the road. My boyfriend loves the biscuits and gravy from there and he ordered jalapeno poppers for me. Being that the expected trip was 2 hours with a chance of traffic I didn’t want to eat much until we got there. Our drive to Los Angeles was pretty smooth, we hit 10 minutes of traffic. On the way, my boyfriend stressed to me that going to the restroom is a mission during the games. So we stopped at a gas station to get some snacks and used the restroom before arriving to the stadium.

Arriving to Event

We went straight to the event and arrived 2 hours early, we were the first ones in line. There was a guy who arrived at the same time as us with his daughter and he traveled from a town near us which was pretty cool. He was 24 years old, married, and has 3 kids. His daughter was with him and she was very well behaved for a 7 or 8 year old. Both him and his daughter were very friendly and polite. One of the first things he brought up was using the restroom which my boyfriend told him he mentioned to me. The doors opened at 12pm, while the first game started at 2pm and we both arrived at 10:30 am after parking and walking to the stadium. The wait was nothing compared to waiting for Post Malone the weekend before. The weather was much better and it was just a better line since we were first and our car was a 2 minute walk from us.

Free swag items

15 minutes before security was going to let people in, my boyfriend and I overheard this man who was instructing the security guards what to do and not to allow into the event. One of the items he mentioned was pepper spray and I ALWAYS have pepper spray on me, it’s attached to my keys. My boyfriend immediately asked me if I had mine, and I did so he gave me his car keys so I could put it away really quick. I went and was probably done in 5 minutes, but by the time I got back almost everyone who was in line was already let in. I was trying to get my ticket from my boyfriend, but the man who was instructing the security guards earlier was not letting me get close to him. He kept telling me to go through security first, I was trying to explain I was just going to get my ticket and then I was going to go through security. He didn’t allow it so I got in line and went through security. Then I was in line so the people at this entry booth could scan my ticket. They didn’t need my ID even though online it said we were going to need to provide ID’s when presenting our tickets. They put a bracelet on me which was my ticket into the event and told me to take some stuff, they had league lanyards and these flags. I grabbed 2 lanyards and a flag. Our bracelets had the letter A on them which meant we were the first group that was going to be let into the stadium. Luckily they weren’t allowing people to get seats just yet, I was happy about that because I know my boyfriend wanted to get good seats and I didn’t want to be the reason we didn’t get good seats. A few teams had booths promoting their teams. There was Team Liquid which was giving away posters with their team on it and little bags that had their team logo on it. It was pretty cool and they had this truck that had a gaming system in the back with 4 pc’s from Alienware. My boyfriend was actually playing league of legends with another guy he met on one of the PCs. The cool thing was the PC my boyfriend happened to use was also the one that was broadcasting live to their website so everyone could see how he was playing. He won the game and had loads of fun, and we both thought the PC and keyboard was badass. However, he didn’t like the mouse because it was bulky. I thought he wouldn’t be fan of it as well being that it is bulky.

Experiencing Games Live

Watching the games live was very cool! Before entering the stadium Riot (The company that created League of Legends) actually chose the first part of the group to be featured on the live stream. They wanted to see everyone hyped, unfortunately my boyfriend and I were a little further down in that line so we didn’t make it. It was really cool seeing it happen in front of us though. After that was recorded we were let into the stadium and once we were seated, my boyfriend and I used the restrooms because we weren’t going to get a chance to later. Getting through the aisle was a mission during each intermission because other people who were there put their backpacks and stuff in the middle of the aisle even when they saw me coming. I either had to walk over it or trip over it. That was one of the worst things about it besides where the TV was placed and having to lift my head to see the game which hurt my neck. Getting to cheer for teams live and say “GO CLOUD9 AND HAUNTZER” was so worth it! Once my boyfriend and I were seated comfortably we saw someone close to us who bought nachos and we were hungry so I went and bought some. The concessions weren’t pricey at all, compared to what most events like concerts would charge. The nachos I bought were $5.75 and waters were $1.50, candy was $1.25, and there was also chips, soda, hotdogs, and popcorn. Everything was very affordable. The nachos made a lasting impression on us, they were called the “Mexican Street Nachos” and they had Mexican cheese, shredded pork, onions, cilantro, lime, and

Meeting Players

Cloud 9 TeamTSM

After watching the first game my boyfriend and I went outside and stood in a line so we could take pictures with the players. I was BEYOND excited because I’ve been wanting to take pictures with my favorite teams since we bought our tickets. I’m a girl that fangirls very quickly! Standing next to the players from both teams was insane! After taking the pictures I was starstruck because I’ve watched them play through the Twitch live stream whether I wanted to or not. My boyfriend tends to watch the stream whenever LOL is on, so I always hear what’s happening regardless. While getting our picture taken with TSM, my boyfriend told the team I wanted to be by Hauntzer lol because he’s my fav and he looked so shy. I told him I tweeted him, but he didn’t say anything. He seems to be one of the shyest players in the league. He seemed nice though and omg did he look dreamy in person. My boyfriend is dreamier obvi, but it was a great experience. After our picture was taken I said aloud, “OH MY GOD Hauntzer touched me!” and apparently all the guys on the team laughed and my boyfriend thought I was the biggest dork. I had the moment I wanted. It was really cool getting to say hi to them, I thought I would actually be able to talk to the players which I could have if I had made more of an effort. Unfortunately, the time after everyone got their pictures taken seemed very limited and the players headed back to the stadium almost immediately. So I didn’t feel like I should go and ask them questions and start up a conversation and whatnot. I’ll definitely make more of an effort the next time we go to NA LCS or a League event.

🙂

Watching games live

We were seated in the second row which is the first row for people who bought tickets. The actual first row is reserved for family members of the teams, staff, and important people really. Dash, one of the league of legends broadcasters actually sat right in front of me. His girlfriend was sitting in front of my boyfriend and I the whole time and then during a break he came out, gave her a kiss and starting talking about the games. It was crazy because he was just on the screen in front of us. Turns out where they broadcast is in a room to the right of us. The first game was Cloud 9 vs TSM which was the main game my boyfriend went for. My boyfriend is a die hard Cloud 9 fan and I like Cloud 9 I think they’re a cool team, however after watching a documentary about League of Legends I really liked TSM’s background story. AND there’s this one player, Hauntzer who is veryy attractive. LOL We watched the game hoping Cloud 9 would win because they were in the lead for 80% of the game and towards the end where they needed to close TSM took control and won. Hauntzer played really well.

Interacting with other fans

While checking out the activities teams had setup my boyfriend and I both interacted with other fans. My boyfriend actually met a family, a father and his two sons who flew from New Mexico to be at the event. We met another fan while we were in line who was from Utah and drove to make it to the event as well. It was unexpected to see fans of the game and teams who had come so far to be there. It was really cool seeing people come together and talk about their favorite teams.

The Stadium gift shop

We stopped at the gift shop during the second game to see what they carried compared to what the online merch store had. I wanted to get a Hauntzer jersey, but they didn’t have jerseys with team members names. Since I’m not too familiar with league nothing else caught my eye. Being that my boyfriend has been playing league of legends since 2014 I knew he would probably want something. I asked him and he said he wanted this character, “Jhin” so I told him I would buy it for him. He tried telling me it was too much, but it ultimately came down to “Do you want it?” and he replied “yes” so I bought it. We don’t get to go on trips often and I think its pretty cool to say you got something from an event you attended. Plus my boyfriend is really good to me and if I had wanted something and it was an event more for me he would buy it for me in a heartbeat.

Meeting Someone Unexpected

I met one of my role models at NA LCS which I will be writing about in an upcoming post.

Leaving

We didn’t stay for all of the games because it was getting late and we still had to drive back home. Although there was a free event the next day sponsored by Team Liquid, we weren’t aware beforehand or else we would have booked a hotel. The event was a party at Dave and Busters where Team Liquid would be giving away “free swag” and free food and drinks and power cards. We looked up how much the cheapest motel would be and it came out to $115 for one night, which we concluded was not worth staying for. We had just gone to see Post Malone the weekend before and we booked a hotel for that so it just wasn’t in our budget. We’re hoping next year in the spring that teams will advertise their free events beforehand so we can plan something to actually attend and enjoy it. Our journey back home was pretty fast, not too much traffic just people who were trying to speed the entire way.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed my first League of Legends event and look forward to attending the future ones. I know not to take pepper spray in my purse to the event, even though they should inform people on the tickets or via email with the confirmation they send. Concessions is definitely happening next time especially if they have the Mexican street nachos. I’m going to pack more water because 4 water bottles wasn’t enough and a backpack is much more practical than my purse and a charger.